Week One in Tainan

Tainan is recommended as a great place to live, learn, and all that. The people are nice, the shops are walking-distance, the area is relatively clean, and there's schools a-plenty.

Compared to Taipei, it's a bit more conservative, as most southern regions are, and the entertainment seems a bit more limited.

My first week in Tainan:

Day 12: Mon., 7/7
- Learned the awesomeness of biking in Taiwan.
- Learned the almost dead by biking-ness of Taiwan.
- Saw recycled glass used in glittery sidewalk bricks.
- Met more of my family; another set of aunt/uncle/2 cousins
- Am currently staying on the 4th floor of their 5-floor security gated home.
- First day of my National Cheng Kung University summer session small-group Chinese language class.
- Schedule: 'Easy' class 10:10 - 12:00 (lunch break), 'Hard' class 13:10 - 15:00, optional classes 15:00 - 17:00.
- Am now relearning my language. Having minor difficulties.

Day 13: Tues., 7/8
- Second day of class. with a few people switching in and out as they adjust to different levels. My class is slightly more advanced speaking/listening, but intermediate/easier reading and writing.
- Final tally includes 4 guys, 4 girls; 4 from the U.S., 1 from Australia/Hong Kong, 1 from Canada, and 2 from Korea, from a 17 yr. old to a couple 20-somethings.
- Am astounded by the streetfuls of clothes and shoe shops that don't end. Food places too.
- Went to a restaurant and had a big hotpot dinner. Hotpots are like freakish boiling bowls they place in front of you to cook your own food, and splash each other with burning oil when you throw large pieces of vegetable in.
- The best part was the sour plum vinegar ice beverage thing. I heart free refills.
- The dessert was also splendid. All 3 of them that I sampled. The rose petal soup thing, the obligatory mango pudding thing, and some other fruit thing I don't remember.
- Mom got a free ceramic cup as a birthday special.

Day 14: Wed., 7/9
- First day of Wednesday's optional class, Chinese painting.
- Sat around for half an hour, chatted with a girl from Japan.
- Office aid came in and announced the teacher wouldn't be here today.
- Played a bit of badminton.
- Went home.
- Celebrated with a taro root birthday cake for my mom's half-a-century-ist.
- Was yummy.
- Planned out a possible week sojourn to Japan.

Day 16: Thurs., 7/10
- First day of Thursday's optional class, which is Tai Chi.
- It was thrilling in its own slow, effortless way.
- Until the part where no one seemed to understand the instructor's Chinese, and I somehow ended up being the appointed translator for the class.
- The class went something like this (ignore the made-up pinyin):
Instructor: "Tai chi shi kung fu de zwai kun shing de suh soo."
Me: "Um. Tai chi is the most...something...form of martial arts."
Instructor: "Tai chi shi tuh bieh de fan mien shi hun mang han may youn li chi."
Me: "Tai chi is unique in that it uses slow movements and little strength."
Russian girl: "*translating the English into Russian for her friends.*"
Russian classmates: "Ohh."
Then the instructor does a demonstration and asks for questions/comments.
American dude: "So how'd he push that person over the second time?"
Me: "Ta wen, ning zhen muh twai dow na guh zhen?"
Instructor: "Wo shi youn chi de fan mien (points at head)."
Me: "He...used a tai chi move? Or...mental strength?"
Older Lady: "He said chi."
Me: "Oh! He used chi. Like, the energy. Yeah."
- Was asked out to lunch by American Dude, aka Paul. Accepted.
- Went shopping, bought clothes.
- Was really excited by museum-ish half of the bookstore complex thing.
- Saw lots of CosDeCarp zoology-related fossils and such.
- Brief nostalgia (yay, Zoology!).
- Got free bath salts for purchasing lots of clothes.
- (Can't go wrong with a 90% off sale.)

Day 17: Fri., 7/11
- Expected the many 7-11's around here to announce some kind of 7/11 sale.
- First time biking to school, about 20 mins. of morning hyper-traffic-awareness.
- Class entertains, what with the games and personal questions and dynamics and challenge.
- Went out to lunch with Paul, who's beginning Chinese here and plans to live in Taiwan for a year. Discussed American politics, particularly Obama vs. McCain, which just seems so...distant.
- Had a field trip to Anping, which is an ancient district of sorts.
- Had some famous shrimp rolls.
- Went bowling with my classmates. Second or possible third time ever bowling for me.
- My goal was 60 points.
- Got very close.
- Played another round.
- Failed goal.
- Went with classmates and teacher to the "yie shi' or famous night market thing, open about 7pm to 1am on Mon.,Tues., and Fri.
- Was there till a bit past midnight, sampling really good food and playing really dumb games, and having a great time.
- Got lost trying to go home.
- Ended up with a long lecture on memorizing addresses and street names, which I now know. So that's good. Though I still occasionally forget to stay on the right-side crosswalks, and end up with many fast-moving vehicles moving in my direction.
- :(

Day 18: Sat., 7/12
- National university badminton tournament!
- Badminton is one of the most intense and entertaining sports to watch, tournament-style, imo.
- I spent, oh, 6 hours on the sidelines, cheering for people who wore cool jerseys.
- My uncle is the university badminton coach and badminton professor person. Even wrote a book about badminton.
- Am now spending a lot of time 'round the badminton courts.
- Went to a celebratory after-tournament buffet-style dinner at the BOSA Egyptian restaurant.
- Awesome food.
- Two more helpings of awesome food.
- Got a bunch of free badminton gear, which for me can double as tennis gear. Yay.

Day 19: Sun., 7/13
- Watched badminton finals.
- Got more random promotional gear, like nutrition tablets to put in water.
- Biked around.
- Made good use of umbrellas.
- Had lunch.
- Had lunch-style dinner.
- Entertained small cousins.
- Am getting back in touch with my 6th grade self.
- Am amazed at the range of issues that can induce sisterly squabbling among the cousins.

Day 20: Mon., 7/14
- Back to class!
- Have yet to lose a vocab game thing.
- Working very hard not to lose; losers have to sing songs in Chinese.
- Have issues with the 'sing' part; the rest follows.
- Doodled turtles and weird cliffs all over my essay.
- Realized I had to hand in the essay.
- Had lunch with classmates.
- Was no different from yesterday's lunch. Except quieter.
- Went shoe shopping.
- Bought shoes, a necklace, and a computer mouse.
- Saw a totoro keychain and adorable dust bunny (Spirited Away / Totoro-style). Really wanted it.
- Was gifted an eraser.